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From Medicine to Manuscript… Doctors with a Literacy Legacy

Dr. Seymour Schwartz

Seymour I. Schwartz is the Distinguished Alumni Professor of Surgery at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and was Chair of the Department of Surgery from 1987-1998.  He received his medical training at New York University and his surgical training at the University of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital.  He has served as president of the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, and the Society of Clinical Surgery.  He was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society and the Institute of Medicine.  He is on the Board of the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution and the Phillips Society of the Library of Congress. 

His many contributions were recognized in 1992 when he was awarded the Albert Kaiser Medal.  In 2005, Dr. Schwartz received the Medal of Honor, bestowed upon him by King Juan Carlos of Spain.    Dr. Schwartz has authored or edited several surgical textbooks, including seven editions of the most widely read Principles of Surgery, and is Editor Emeritus of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.  Dr. Schwartz is also a cartographic historian and has authored Mapping of America (1980), The French and Indian War (1995), An Englishman’s Journey Along America’s Eastern Waterway’s (2000), This Land is Your Land:  The Geographic Evolution of the United States (2000, The Mis-Mapping of America, and Putting “America” on the Map (2007).  Other publications include Gifted Hands (2009),  Holystic Medicine:  The Patron Saints of Medicine, The Hagiography of Health and Illness, 2011 and The Anatomist, The Barber-Surgeon and the King: How the accidental death of King Henry II changed the world. (2014)